Vast pipelines cross the endless dunes of northern Chile, pumping seawater up to an altitude of more than 3,000 metres in the Andes mountains to the Escondida mine, the world’s […]
Read MoreCopper prices in US hit record high after Trump announces 50% tariff
Copper prices hit a record high in the US after Donald Trump announced he would impose a 50% tariff on the industrial metal, in the latest escalation of his trade […]
Read MoreRare earths: how these critical minerals impact Australian industry and global politics – video
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Read MoreBrazil’s last asbestos miners are switching to rare earth minerals. Can they offer a brighter future?
Minaçu, a small city in inland Brazil and home to the only asbestos mine in the Americas, is set to become the first operation outside Asia to produce four rare […]
Read MoreThe world wants China’s rare earth elements – what is life like in the city that produces them?
Central Baotou, an industrial hub of 2.7 million people that abuts the Gobi desert in north China, feels just like any other second-tier Chinese city. Large shopping malls featuring western […]
Read More‘A timebomb’: could a French mine full of waste poison the drinking water of millions?
Eight police officers linger with their backs to the two-hectare (five-acre) site known as Stocamine. The place is nondescript in the morning drizzle: two mine shafts, some modern-looking office buildings, […]
Read MoreChina has a stranglehold on the world’s rare-earths supply chain. Can Australia break it?
Weeks after China retaliated against Donald Trump’s tariffs by suspending exports of a range of rare-earth elements and related high-powered magnets, Ford was forced to pause a production line in […]
Read More‘Scratch the earth, there’s gold!’: Small miners, big firms and armed gangs fight over Peru’s mineral wealth
Deep in the mountains of northern Peru, a bloody war is being fought over gold. As its international price sets successive record highs above $3,000 (£2,220) an ounce, criminal gangs, […]
Read MoreDemand for copper to dramatically outstrip supply within decade
Demand for copper, needed for the transition to a low-carbon world, will outstrip supply within the next decade, according to the global energy watchdog. Supplies of the metal, a key […]
Read MoreTravels in the Pilbara, the land of ‘Aunty Gina’ – in pictures
Standing looking at the ramshackle old buildings and stockyards on the vast and isolated Mulga Downs station where Gina Rinehart grew up felt a little surreal as the same day […]
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